House passes bill addressing Lincoln County election mishap

In an attempt to allow Lincoln County to reverse an improperly sanctioned ballot initiative that established nonpartisan local elections, a state lawmaker from Eureka is pushing a bill that would temporarily give the county authority to bring its elections into compliance with state law.

Republican Rep. Mike Cuffe’s House Bill 282 last month passed the House on a near-unanimous vote.

But Cuffe and other Lincoln County officials are resisting a similar bill working through the Legislature that they argue would unnecessarily shift power from residents to the commissioners in some Montana counties.

House Bill 448, sponsored by Rep. Ross Fitzgerald, R-Fairfield, passed the House 56-44 on Tuesday.

The measure would create the option for all types of county governments to place an option on the ballot to change from partisan to nonpartisan county elections, or vice versa. Montana law provides for several forms of county government. The default form is the “elected official” county government, which places the least amount of power in the hands of the commissioners.

Lincoln County is one such example, where the governing body lacks the ability to pass ordinances calling for ballot initiatives to change local election laws. In order to change to nonpartisan local elections, residents would have to bring forth a petition to place the issue on the ballot.

The Lincoln County Commissioners in 2009 improperly put the election issue to a vote. It passed, but the error did not emerge until last year.

Fitzgerald’s bill would change state law to allow for that type of commissioner-driven ballot question.

During the House’s debate on the measure Monday, Fitzgerald said it had won the support of the commissioners in Teton and Lewis and Clark counties, as well as the Montana Association of Counties.

“It basically shifts the power of candidacy to the electorate,” he said. “It removes any artificial barrier on working together from the elected officials ... and it broadens the pool of qualified candidates.”

Fitzgerald was supported by colleagues on both sides of the aisle, who argued that his bill would make it easier for counties to switch to nonpartisan elections. In an appeal to Republican legislators, Rep. Kathy Swanson, D-Anaconda, noted that her county would likely be controlled by Democratic officials, were it required to have partisan elections.

“There would never be a Republican sitting on that commission, or as chief of law enforcement, or as a city-county manager, for that matter,” Swanson said. “There are circumstances that warrant nonpartisan and I think it’s something to honor for the voters who are choosing whether or not they want to stay nonpartisan, or go partisan or vice versa.”

But both House members representing Lincoln County argued the measure would strip power away from voters by vesting a new authority in the hands of elected-official county governments.

“House Bill 448 changes law that our predecessors put into law in 1977. A codified change will only elevate the powers given to the elected-official form of government,” Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Libby, said during the floor debate. “If passed, we will revisit this again to change it back.”

Rep. Cuffe also spoke against the bill, noting that his constituents have repeatedly rejected ballot initiatives to change to a “strong county commissioner” form of government and opting instead to keep the limited, elected-official form in place.

“This bill would give that additional authority to the commissioners, which those commissioners do not now have,” he said. “... My county prefers having elected officials with limited powers.”

The improper switch from partisan to nonpartisan elections in Lincoln County was discovered by a special government-review commission established by county voters in 2014.

In an interview Wednesday, the commission’s chair, Steve Curtis, expressed deep concerns with Fitzgerald’s bill, invoking the adage, “Nothing is safe when the Legislature is in session.”

“It throws open the opportunity for too many other things to take place, when in fact all [the county commissioners] need to do is correct their inconsistency with the law, and that is to fix it.”

At issue is whether the commissioners have the authority to correct the problem, however. The same laws that should have prohibited them from passing the 2009 ordinance also appear to prevent passage of a countermeasure.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” Davis said.

But he said he’s not particularly keen on Cuffe’s bill, either. While he agrees with the premise, Davis said he would prefer to see the issue resolved through the courts, rather than legislation susceptible to amendments from lawmakers aiming to change the bill’s narrow intent.

“When you start putting these issues before the legislators ... think about how many times you’ve seen a really good bill get bogged down with all kinds of add-ons that make it a bad bill.”

During a Feb. 14 hearing on House Bill 282, Cuffe said that while litigation is one avenue to solving the county’s conundrum, a lawsuit could create a significant financial burden for the already cash-strapped local government.

House Bill 448 is now before the Senate after receiving House approval Tuesday. It has not yet been assigned to a committee.

A hearing on House Bill 282 has been scheduled for the Senate State Administration Committee’s meeting Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.